Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • An island country of the southern Pacific Ocean east of northern Australia. Inhabited primarily by Melanesian peoples, the islands were sighted by the Portuguese in 1606 and explored by Capt. James Cook, who named them “New Hebrides,” in 1774. Under joint French and British control after 1906, New Hebrides achieved independence as Vanuatu in 1980. Port Vila, on Efate Island, is the capital.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • proper noun A country in Oceania. Official name: Republic of Vanuatu.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a volcanic island republic in Melanesia; independent since 1980

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Bislama Vanuatu.

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